Police services board asks Chief Blair to make more cuts

The Toronto police services board postponed a public meeting on Friday about the contentious 2012 budget because Chief Bill Blair did not meet the Mayor’s cost reduction targets. By postponing the meeting, the board hopes Chief Blair will have enough time to find more cuts, said chairman Alok Mukherjee.

Following an extended private meeting between the civilian oversight body and the Chief, Mr. Mukherjee told reporters officials are working together to find ways to whittle the service’s $944-million budget request. City Hall wants the force to bring its 2012 budget down to $886-million, which represents a 10% cut.

Last week, the police board directed Chief Blair to present options to meet the target in one or two years. “He found a significant amount of reduction but we’re not finished yet,” Mr. Mukherjee said at police headquarters.

“We need to get to the target before we can responsibly present in the public. … If we go with a half-baked budget and then say we need to do more work, that doesn’t serve anybody’s interests.”

Chief Blair did not address the media. He has said that the only way to hit the target is to lay off hundreds of police officers, which he will not recommend.

Councillor Michael Thompson, vice-chairman of the police board, thinks the force should cut the 10% that is required of other departments. He called Friday’s discussions “fruitful” but said there is more work to be done.

“If it’s not a consensus, at least the differences that we arrive at will be such that at least we can agree to move forward in a fruitful way,” he said. Asked about possible layoffs, Mr. Thompson said the board is “working through the process in terms of defining a number that meets our goals and objectives.”

There was some confusion as to why the board cancelled the public session of its meeting half an hour before it was set to begin. Councillor Frances Nunziata said the public meeting was postponed in order to give board members more time to digest the information provided.

Mayor Rob Ford told reporters it was postponed because board members did not receive the Chief’s report until Friday morning. Mr. Mukherjee said he received the report on Thursday, and other board members got a hard copy Friday morning. The board will meet on October 19th in private, and a public meeting is scheduled for the following day.